


SuperNova: Gravity

by princess_astra



Series: SuperNova Series [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Eleventh Doctor Era, F/M, I mean a real slow ass burn, Slow Burn, but it's a good burn, it burns a LOT
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2018-12-13 20:49:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11768115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princess_astra/pseuds/princess_astra
Summary: I am queen of all my sins forgotten.





	1. The Impossible Astronaut (pt 1)

**Author's Note:**

> you might want to read the first book in this series first, simply titled "SuperNova". big huge thank you and all of my love to everyone who is actually reading this second book!

_And we are magic talking to itself, noisy and alone. I am queen of all my sins forgotten. Once I was beautiful, now I am myself... -- Anne Sexton, from 'You Doctor Martin', The Complete Poems._

I endured the midday heat, leaning against the diner walls outside, bracing myself: both against the pain of inter-universe travelling, and for what was going to happen next.

It felt like the first time I landed in this universe all over again. I was hiding behind a wall, afraid of going inside and facing the Doctor. Except this time, it wasn't because I didn't know him-- it was because he didn't know me.

Not like I thought he did, anyway.

After Dylan and I had gone through the agonizing 24/7 process of finding a new counterpart from the technology department to replace Meredith, we were given a three-month break: combined time from the protocol of receiving a new counterpart, and the time necessary after being involved in a court ruling. We had caused an explosion, and it needed a lot of time to blow over.

The truth was, I didn't really want to be here. At least, not with the Doctor acting like I would betray him at any moment; not seeing me. But after everything Dylan said to me last time-- I realized that I had to be here. I belonged here. I was a part of this as much as it was a part of me; I couldn't be cowardly and leave forever. Besides-- now I have three months to spare.

Much like before, I forced myself to open the door and enter the diner, knowing that I could stand outside and over-think forever.

"Nova," I heard the Doctor say immediately, as he stood from his spot in the booth with River and moved over to me. He stopped in front of me abruptly-- as though he meant to keep walking or reach out, but forced himself not to.

He looked at me like I was glass: something that he could break, and something that he could see right through. "How are you?"

"I'm... confused." I admitted. I didn't expect this reaction from the Doctor.

"Why?"

"Well..." I looked around the diner for a moment, noticing its interior and the fact that Amy, Rory, and River were standing around us now. "We're in America, and..." I turned back to him, "You look older."

The Doctor smiled. "I am older."

"Yeah, you've been up to something," Amy noticed.

The Doctor moved to sit in a booth, all of us fitting in. I sat next to River, across the Doctor. "I've been running...faster than I've ever run, and I've been running my whole life. Now it's time for me to stop. And tonight I'm going to need you all with me."

Amy thought he was being weird with his serious tone, but went on anyway. "Okay, we're here, what's up?"

"A picnic!" He smiled. "And then a trip. Somewhere different. Somewhere brand-new."

"Where?"

"Space... 1969."

**888**

"Salud!" The Doctor held up his wine bottle, while everyone else held up their glasses and cheered, sprawled around a picnic blanket by a lake in Utah. "Salud!"

"So when are we going to 1969?" Rory asked.

"And since when do you drink wine?" Amy followed.

"I'm 1,103-- I must have drunk it sometime," The Doctor took a swig from the wine bottle only to immediately spit it out behind him, his face going sour. "Oh, wine's horrid! I thought it would taste more like the gums."

"1,103? You were 908 the last time we saw you." Amy said.

The Doctor looked to me, sitting criss-crossed right beside him while he laid back. He almost looked regretful. "Yeah..."

"What's that?" Amy asked, looking at a hill in the distance.

"What's what?" Rory asked, not being able to see anything in the direction she was facing.

Amy looked to him, and suddenly forgot what she had seen, and I knew what it was-- the Silence.

An old pickup truck drove in the distance behind us, and I remembered what was going to happen. Everyone stood up as an old man got out of the car and waved to the Doctor-- and when we turned back to the lake, an Apollo astronaut was standing in it.

"Oh my god," River breathed.

"You all need to stay back. Whatever happens now, you do not interfere. Clear?" It sounded like a stern order, but the Doctor spoke sadly.

I was mad and hurt before-- but after the Doctor had been looking at me so strangely all this time and I knew he was about to face his death, I couldn't help but be terrified for him. "Doctor," I tried, my voice quivering.

We were the only ones who knew what was happening, but I was the only one who knew that.

The Doctor turned back to me for just a moment and sighed, brushing a strand of my faintly radiant hair behind my ear, before cupping my face in both hands. The Doctor's eyes were glassy, and completely honest-- something I was not used to seeing. He stared at me as though I was the last thing he was ever going to look at and he didn't know what to do about it, so he quickly leaned forward, pressing his lips long and hard to my forehead. "I'm so, so sorry," he whispered in my ear so only I could hear, before tearing himself away.

The Doctor faced the Apollo astronaut-- his death-- and River looked to me worriedly, as if looking for a sign that I knew this would work out. I tried reassuring myself into remembering that I would see him again later, but his intense goodbye made my eyes water.

I stared intently as the Doctor bowed his head, and was shot once.

Unlike Rory, River, and Amy, I did not lunge forward into a sprint-- only barely registered my feet moving slowly, closer, as if only to observe.

The Doctor's hands and head began flowing with bright, golden regeneration energy-- and then he spasmed, as if shot by an invisible or internal bullet, and collapsed to the ground.

This time, Amy, River, and Rory ran forward, checking his vitals and sobbing, while I continued walking slowly-- wanting to cry but not being able to, hearing every single short, quick breath I took as loud as that first-- and only-- gunshot.

I reached them, and stared down at the Doctor's lifeless body, that one fact endlessly repeating itself in my head: _there was only one gunshot._

There was only _one_ gunshot.

His regeneration stopped automatically with his spasm. Only one gunshot was needed.

That wasn't supposed to happen. What had changed?

"I believe I can save you some time," The old man approached from his pickup truck, who we would all get to know soon. "That most certainly is the Doctor, and he is most certainly dead. He said you'd need this," he set a tank of gasoline at the Doctor's feet.

"Gasoline?" Rory spoke as though it were insulting.

River looked to me as though she were going to ask for an explanation herself, before seeing my wide-eyed face in shock, and continuing. "A Time Lord's body is a miracle, even a dead one. There are whole empires out there who'd rip this world apart for just one cell. We can't leave him here. Or anywhere."

Amy sobbed over the Doctor's body, hugging his chest. River picked up the gasoline can.

"There's a boat," Rory noticed. "If we're going to do this... let's do it properly."

**888**

I stared at the Doctor's burning body floating in a boat across the lake completely numb.

It was one thing to know that normally, the Doctor wasn't really dead.

It was one thing to see the Doctor dead in front of you.

And it was a completely different thing to have witnessed the Doctor's death happen the wrong way, leaving you clueless as to whether or not the Doctor was alive or not, and knowing it had to be your fault.

"Who are you? Why did you come?" River asked the old man, who came with the pickup truck and gasoline.

"The same reason as you," he pulled out a blue envelope with the number 5 on it. "Dr. Song, Amy, Rory, Nova. I'm Canton Everett Delaware the Third. I won't be seeing you again, but you'll be seeing me," He walked away.

"Tell me," Amy grabbed my arm, the moment he was out of earshot. "You know the future. Tell me he's not dead," she begged, tear stains on her face.

"I know a version of the future..." I clarified. "River, why was he only shot once? He was supposed to regenerate, but his regeneration stopped. That doesn't make any sense, does it?"

"What do you mean?" River asked.

"I mean... I really shouldn't be telling you this, but... he died the wrong way."

"So he could be alive?" Amy asked.

I shook my head and shrugged, finally letting my eyes water.

**888**

"Nova, where's your envelope?" River asked me, as we all walked into the diner.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We all got an envelope-- Canton got 5, Amy and Rory got 4, and I got 3. We're missing 2 and 1." She pointed out.

I shook my head. "I'm not sure you can mail things across universes."

"What, you think he invited someone else?" Rory asked.

"Well, he must have. He planned all of this, to the last detail." River tried.

We all stood around the diner, none of us able to sit with the tension in the air, but Amy placed a hand on the back of a booth-- like she had to steady herself up. "Will you three shut up? It doesn't matter."

I sighed, realizing that even if he was dead, we still had to meet Canton. "Yes it does. Believe me, I at least know that. We need to find the TARDIS and get to space, 1969..." I trailed, spotting something on a table.

"Nova?" River asked.

I grabbed the two blue envelopes off the table-- one of them with my name on it. "He's here," I said quietly.

"That can't be," River said in disbelief.

"Really? This is the Doctor we're talking about."

Just like I expected, the back restroom door opened, revealing the Doctor fiddling with a plastic straw. Everyone stared at him with mixed emotions-- but the main one was shock.

For River, it quickly turned to anger. "This is cold. Even by your standards, this is cold."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, unphased. "Or _hello_ , as people used to say."

"Doctor?" Amy walked up to him, looking at him closely as he rambled on about his special straw, finding it all hard to believe. "You're okay... how can you be okay?"

The Doctor noticed her somber expression and couldn't help but pull her in for a hug. "Hey, of course I'm okay. I'm always okay. I'm the king of okay!" The Doctor let her go. "Oh, that's a rubbish title. Forget that title."

He pointed to Rory, before going to hug him also. "Rory the Roman! That's a good title, Hello, Rory."

He moved on to me, plucking the opened envelope from my hand. "Nova-- that one's mine. Other one's yours."

I huffed at how easily he dismissed me in comparison to Rory and Amy, and reminded myself that no matter how weirdly pleasant the future Doctor was-- this one was still frustrated with me, and I was frustrated right back.

"And Doctor River Song. Oh, you bad, bad, girl-- what trouble have you got for me this time?" The Doctor grinned at her. I mentally slapped myself for believing anything he said to me before meant anything at all after he just said that to her.

Thankfully, River slapped him hard.

"Okay. I'm assuming that's for something I haven't done yet." The Doctor rubbed his cheek.

"And for something you're doing right now." River glared.

"Oh, good..." The Doctor looked afraid.

Everyone kept bickering about how the Doctor could possibly be here, and what the envelopes meant-- but I went silent as I looked down at mine-- number one.

The current Doctor did not trust me at all-- but if I had number one-- this meant that the future Doctor trusted me the most, and he wanted my current self to know it.

"Nova, what's going on?" Amy asked.

I looked up from the envelope, hoping that I could hide my emotions-- but the tears I felt in my eyes and the looks everyone gave me told me otherwise. Either way, I stared as hard as I could as I asked-- "Doctor, how old are you?"

The Doctor was taken aback. "That's a bit personal..."

"Fine! Since you don't want to talk to me-- Amy, you ask him."

"How old are you?" Amy asked.

"909..." The Doctor replied cautiously.

"Nova, what's wrong?" River asked, still noticing how shaken I was.

I showed her the envelope with the number one on it-- and she immediately snatched the Doctor's envelope from him, showing me what was on it. "He's number two."

Amy looked from me, to the Doctor, probably confused as to how he would choose to trust me the most in our current state. "I don't understand."

"Yeah, you do," Rory mumbled.

"I don't! What are we all doing here?" The Doctor asked.

"We need to go to space, 1969-- something about Canton Everett Delaware the third." I intervened, surprised the parasite in my mind didn't hurt me for saying it.

"Says who?" The Doctor asked.

"That's a very good question."

**888**

The Doctor spun around the TARDIS console, messing with the controls and rambling on as if everything was normal. "1969, that's an easy one! Funny, how some years are easy. Now, 1482, full of glitches. Now then, Canton Everett Delaware the third. That was his name, yeah? How many of those can there be? Well, three, I suppose."

The Doctor finally allowed himself to notice that only he and Rory were left on the console floor. "Rory, is everybody cross with me for some reason?"

"I'll find out," Rory spoke nervously, before coming downstairs where River, Amy and I stood.

"Explain it again," Amy demanded.

"The Doctor we saw on the beach is a future version, two hundred years older than the one up there." River offered in a hushed tone.

"But all that's still going to happen. He's still going to die." Amy crossed her arms.

I shrugged, sitting criss-crossed right beside her. "Well, Amy, I hate to break it to you-- but we're all going to do that eventually."

"We're not all going to arrange our own wake and invite ourselves. So, the Doctor, in the future, knowing he's going to die, recruits his younger self and all of us to, to what, exactly? Avenge him?" Rory tried.

"That's not his style." River pointed out.

"Save him?" Amy tried.

River shook her head. "Yeah, that's not really his style either."

I stood up from my position on the floor. "Guys-- stop trying. This is it. This is what's supposed to happen-- we've told him enough already. If we do anything else, the universe might literally explode-- again."

Amy shook her head. "So we can't tell him anything?"

Everyone looked around at each other, the fact settling in.

"Now you know how I feel."


	2. The Impossible Astronaut (pt 2)

"Time isn't a straight line," The Doctor flicked some console levers up, spinning around as he kept working. "It's all bumpy wumpy. There's loads of boring stuff like Sundays and Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons... But now and then there are Saturdays-- big temporal tipping points when anything's possible," The Doctor walked up close to River, leaning in for a second. "The TARDIS can't resist them, like a moth to a flame."

He finally went over to the TARDIS monitor, everyone following and looking at it also. "She loves a party, so I give her 1969 and NASA, because that's space in the sixties, and Canton Everett Delaware the third, and this is where she's pointing."

"Washington D.C., April the eighth, 1969. So why haven't we landed?" Amy asked.

"Because that's not where we're going." The Doctor moved back around the console again.

Rory was almost relieved. "Oh, where are we going?"

"Home. Well, you two are. Off you pop and make babies. Nova, you literally have an entire other life-- and you, Doctor Song, back to prison. And me? I'm late for a biplane lesson in 1911. Or it could be knitting. Knitting or biplanes. One or the other." The Doctor carelessly flicked at another lever and defeatedly plopped down on the pilot's chair, sitting back with his legs crossed and a hand over his face, the last of his playful mirage disappeared.

It was not as if he tensed up now-- he was tensed up before, only now it was a different kind of tense. He was not tense with ambition and excitement for whatever adventure would happen next. He was tense with frustration.

Everyone stared at him silently and cautiously-- afraid of what he would say, like he could explode at any moment, until he spoke up. "What? A mysterious summons. You think I'm just going to go?"

No one said a word. The moment that passed gave him our answer.

"Who sent those messages? I know you know, I can see it in your faces." Amy and Rory shared a look. The Doctor very obviously noticed it. "Don't play games with me. Don't ever, _ever_ think you're capable of that."

"Just trust us, Doctor." I tried, daring to take a step forward.

"Yeah," Amy helped.

The Doctor approached me slowly, standing right in front of me and studying my face hard-- as if trying to make a decision. He often did this when he thought I was lying, or when he thought something was wrong with me. I continued nervously, but still stood tall. "You need to do this and you can't ask us why."

His eyes narrowed. "Are you being threatened? Is someone making you say that?"

I thought I had been doing a pretty good job of keeping up my own morale, forcing myself through this despite the Doctor's newfound distrust in me, his possible permanent death, and the fact that I had no idea who I was or why I was here. But out of everything-- the thing that hurt me the most was the one that could be literal at any given moment-- the threat of Prisoner Zero and the Silence in my mind.

I might have been able to fix this all a long time ago if it weren't for that-- or at the very least, I might have been given a choice. If I was allowed to tell him everything I knew since the beginning-- then maybe he would have always trusted me.

But I couldn't help the fact that I wasn't. And I couldn't help the fact that in that moment, hearing those words made me cry.

I sharply looked down as tears began to fall, not being able to bear looking at the Doctor any longer. I couldn't tell who was hurting who-- or if it was even either of our faults in the first place. All I knew was that I was hurt.

"Is someone threatening you?" The Doctor asked Amy and Rory sternly, louder, almost angrily, turning to them but not moving away from me. A shiver ran down my spine.

"No!" Amy exclaimed along with River, Rory stumbling in agreement.

The Doctor pointed at me, not being able to get words out in shock, but motioning as if to say-- _it's only her?_ And as soon as I saw Amy and Rory nod vigorously, a loud, piercing screech reverberated through my brain.

I wasn't sure if I wailed in pain or not, but I must have. I could have sworn I felt my brain vibrate. I fought to keep my eyes open, but I crouched down and only saw the floor, and the Doctor's shoes in front of me-- feeling what must have been his hands on my face.

I couldn't tell who was speaking anymore.

"Doctor-- it doesn't matter, you have to leave it!"

"Of course it matters. _Of course it matters!_ This whole time—the flashbacks, the secrets of 51, Amy not remembering why she was SO, ANGRY AT HER, _none_ of you could have told me this?"

"Look at her! It's a level 8 mind parasite! You're hurting her-- you need to it let go!"

I couldn't tell if what anyone was saying was real or not-- I could hardly hear over the screech, and every voice heard sounded like it was overlapping, throbbing in my head, like a million little migraines forming one large sum of pain. What is a level 8 mind parasite?

I think it's possible for your brain to shatter and melt at the same time.

"Just say you'll let it go... turn off the protocol! ....Automated trigger.... Only hope.... Try harder! It needs to believe you...."

More voices bickered, but I couldn't make out what they were saying, except for this final sentence:

"I swear, I'll let it go. I swear I won't ask— _I want her alive!_ "

I took a deep breath and stood straight again, suddenly coming back to my senses as though a flip switched. My world went back to normal so quickly that I could hardly tell I had been in pain before.

I slowly drifted my eyes across the glowing-orange space, having a hard time believing it was real. I was stuck in a daze for a few moments, trying to bring myself back to my senses. I realized it was the other way around-- I had a hard time believing that _I_ was real. It was a strange feeling, but there was no other way to explain it.

There were no after-effects, no dizziness, no headaches. Just a room full of people staring at me, terrified.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor spoke, quietly.

"Um... it's okay?" I said this as though it were more of a question.

"No, it's not, I should have trusted you. I didn't know why you had to keep... your secrets."

"You don't know me. _I_ don't even know me."

"I know. I believe you."

"Well then, in that case," With my breath still shaking, I moved back to the TARDIS monitor, determined to get it together. "Who's Canton Everett Delaware the Third?"

**888**

I stood with Amy and Rory, arms crossed in observation as the Doctor pretended like he was putting the TARDIS into invisible and silent mode, and River followed him, _actually_ putting the TARDIS into invisible and silent mode.

"1969," The Doctor kept trying to move things on the console. "Who's president again?" He turned to me, the only American on board.

"Richard Nixon. Ugh," I grumbled. I used to be something of a history nerd in high school, but I didn't care much for it anymore, now that it all affected me far too directly.

"Oh sweetie, just wait until the 45th President," River chided.

The Doctor huffed in agreement, before hitting the monitor, trying to get it to work, to no avail. "Okay. Now I can't check the scanner, it doesn't work when we're cloaked, uh... Just give us a mo!" the Doctor ran towards the door, Amy and Rory following, until he stopped them. "Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa. You lot, wait a moment. We're in the middle of the most powerful city in the most powerful country on Earth. Let's take it slow."

The Doctor slowly opened the door and stepped out. 

"We should get the scanner working," I told River as soon as he left.

"He said the scanner wouldn't work," Rory pointed out.

River chuckled. "I know. Bless."

After a few moments of the TARDIS somewhat bumping around, we got the scanner to work to where we could see the Doctor being held down by men with guns. 

Then the Doctor said-- "Make her blue again!" So that's exactly what we did.

**888**

When we stepped out of the TARDIS, multiple men aimed guns which were not on safety in every direction possible. 

"Don't shoot! Definitely no shooting," The Doctor tried.

Rory nervously rambled on also, until I interrupted-- "Oxcart! D21 Tagboard! Have Doughnut, Have Drill, Have Ferry."

The Doctor, River, Amy and Rory looked to me as though I were insane, but Nixon, Canton, and a few other men in the room looked at me as though I were a miracle.

"How do you know about that?" President Richard Nixon asked, moving closer to me, cautiously. "Those are top-secret projects which have not been released!"

"The Recruit Program 243 says that anyone capable of infiltrating copious amounts of Area 51 information and is a US citizen should be granted immediate employment or immediate... what's the fancy word for brainwash?" I rambled, somewhat nervous as to whether or not my Area 51 knowledge from my universe would match up with the facts in this one.

"Who the hell are you?" Nixon asked.

"A person who knows how things work."

Nixon turned to face the Doctor. "And who the hell are you?"

"Nah, boring question. Who's phoning you? That's interesting. Because Canton Three is right. That was definitely a girl's voice, which means there's only one place in America she can be phoning from." The Doctor stood behind the President's desk.

"Where?" Canton asked.

"Do not engage with the intruder, Mister Delaware!" A man with a gun pointed at the Doctor warned.

"You heard everything I heard. It's simple enough. Give me five minutes, I'll explain." The Doctor sat in the President's chair and propped his feet up on the desk, legs crossed, completely at ease. "On the other hand, lay a finger on me or my friends, and you'll never, ever know."

Canton was no longer pointing a gun at the Doctor. "How did you get it in here?" He pointed to the TARDIS. "I mean, you didn't carry it in."

"Clever, eh?"

"Love it."

"Do not compliment the intruder!" The miscellaneous man with the gun warned.

Canton ignored him. "Five minutes?"

"Five," The Doctor confirmed.

The man with the gun kept it pointed at the Doctor. "Mister President, that man is a clear and present danger to--."

"Mister President, that man walked in here with a big blue box and four of his friends, one of them a possible American genius," He pointed to the man with the gun. "And that's the man he walked past. One of them's worth listening to. I say we give him five minutes. See if he delivers."

"Thanks, Canton," The Doctor smiled.

"If he doesn't, I'll shoot him myself."

"Not so thanks."

The man with the gun still didn't falter. "Sir, I cannot recommend--"

"Shut up, Peterson!" Nixon ordered him. "All right, five minutes."

The men slowly lowered their guns, and I fought the urge to smile, feeling a little victorious in general and proud of the title _Possible American Genius_.

The Doctor sat up straight. "I'm going to need a SWAT team, ready to mobilise. Street level maps covering all of Florida. A pot of coffee, twelve Jammie Dodgers and a fez."

Canton eyed him amusingly. "Get him his maps."

**888**

A few minutes later, everyone was sprawled around the room with different maps spread out on every surface. When Amy left to the restroom and came back, I knew that she had seen the Silence, and I knew that there was really nothing I could do about it.

"Found it!" I exclaimed, my finger on the intersection the Doctor and I were looking for.

"You, sir, are a genius," Canton remarked.

"Hey, she was the one who found it," The Doctor pointed at me, to which I furrowed my eyebrows. He usually would not pass over the credit-- but I guessed he was still feeling sorry about before.

The phone rang again, and when Nixon answered it, he put it through to a speaker.

"It's here! The spaceman's here! It's going to get me! It's going to eat me!" The little girl's voice on the telephone cried.

The Doctor panicked, and started moving, all of us following. "There's no time for a SWAT team. Let's go. Mister President, tell her help's on the way. Canton, on no account follow me into this box and close the door behind you."

Canton did just exactly what the Doctor told him not to do. "What the hell are you doing?"

**888**

Canton stood in shock, Rory attempting to comfort him, while the Doctor moved around as usual around the console. "Jefferson isn't a girl's name. It's not her name either. Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton. River."

"Surnames of three of America's founding fathers." River answered, casually staring at me for a reason I did not understand.

The Doctor smiled. "Lovely fellows. Two of them fancied me."

"Was it Jefferson and Hamilton? Tell me it was at least Hamilton," I asked, my history-nerd showing.

"It was at least Hamilton," The Doctor smirked, and I rolled my eyes, thrown off a bit by how normal it felt. "You see, the President asked the child two questions. Where are you and who are you? She was answering where. Now, where would you find three big, historical names in a row like that?"

"Where?" Amy asked.

"Here." The TARDIS landed.

**888**

"Where are we?" Amy asked when we stepped out into what looked like an old office space.

"About five miles from Cape Kennedy Space Centre. It's 1969, the year of the moon. Interesting, don't you think?" The Doctor explained, poking at random things on the table in front of us. 

"Streets. Of course, street names..." Amy understood.

"The only place in Florida, probably all of America, with those three street names on the same junction."

"But why would a little girl be here?"

"I don't know. Lost me a bit. The President asked the girl where she was, and she did what any lost little girl would do. She looked out of the window." The Doctor pointed out the window, and all of us could easily see that Jefferson, Adams, and Hamilton were on the street signs.

When River stared at me again, I assumed she was trying to make a choice. And when she spoke, I assumed that she made it. "Well, it seems I've got that face on again," She sighed, looking at the Doctor.

"What face?" The Doctor asked

"The he's-hot-when-he's-clever face."

"That's your normal face?" The Doctor was confused, not seeing a change in facial expression on River.

"Yes it is," She smiled. Eventually, the Doctor smiled back.

When I told the Doctor that it was okay before, and when he told me he believed me, I thought all the bitterness at him in my heart would go away-- after all, I couldn't blame him-- but for some reason, it didn't.

**888**

The space we were in looked like some type of abandoned office or warehouse-- dark, dingy, and cluttered.

"You realise this is almost certainly a trap, of course?" The Doctor asked, as River, Amy and I slowly moved beside him, all of us waving flashlights around.

Although my hair glowed slightly more now, I couldn't really see ahead of me without the flashlight. "Unfortunately."

River's hair glowed too, but far less than mine. "I noticed the phone, yes."

"What about it?" Amy asked.

"It was cut off," River explained quickly. "So how did the child phone from here?"

"Okay, but why would anyone want to trap us?" Amy sounded more exhausted than worried at this point.

"Dunno. Let's see if anyone tries to kill us and work backwards." The Doctor continued ahead.

I huffed, annoyed. "Joy."

 


	3. The Impossible Astronaut (pt 3)

We came across a place that had a strange, dirty looking surgical chair, with wires with peculiar bulbs hanging above it. River stepped through the area first, shining her flashlight around. "Now why would a little girl be here?"

"I don't know," The Doctor stepped over some wires. "Let's find her and ask her."

I knocked on the surgical chair. "Well, definitely not from Earth."

"Probably not even this time zone," River agreed.

"Which is odd-- because look at this!" The Doctor spoke excitedly as he rummaged through boxes containing very late 60s, early 70s looking space suits.

"It's Earth tech. It's contemporary," River observed.

"It's very contemporary, cutting edge. This is from the space program!"

"You think our old space tech is cutting edge?" I asked. In the era of Earth I was from, everyone mostly assumed that if there were other alien planets, we were most likely very far behind in technology.

"Of course," The Doctor assured me, putting down the space helmet. "But it's not _your_ old space tech."

I paused for a moment, remembering that once again, I was not human-- and confused at the fact that the Doctor reminded me of it.

"Stolen?" River cut in.

"What, by aliens?" Amy asked.

The Doctor shrugged. "Apparently."

"But why? I mean, if you can make it all the way to Earth, why steal technology that can barely make it to the moon?"

"Maybe because it's cooler!" The Doctor shouted from inside the space helmet he put on himself. He moved the screen up, revealing his stupid, grinning face. "Look how cool this stuff is!"

"Cool aliens?" Amy stared at him blankly.

The Doctor smiled. "Well, what would you call me?"

"An alien."

"Oi!" The Doctor took the helmet off.

Rory entered the room again, slowly following Canton with his flashlight on him, while Canton aimlessly wandered. "I uh, I think he's okay now."

"Ah! Back with us, Canton." The Doctor noticed.

Canton was barely paying attention, busy frowning at the mysterious objects around him. But after all, he was an FBI agent-- he was used to dealing with multiple things and emotions at once. "I like your wheels."

The Doctor pat his shoulder, and continued walking ahead. "That's my boy. So, come on! Little girl, let's find her."

**888**

River and I stood by the table, examining the wires with mounds of slimy gunk at the ends as Amy approached us. "River, Nova..."

"I know what you're thinking." River responded, not even looking up.

Amy would have sounded offended if she weren't so sad. "No, you don't."

"You think if we get rid of the astronaut in 1969 it won't get rid of the Doctor in 2011," I answered her, looking up and soothingly rubbing her arm. "Believe me, we were also thinking it. But it won't work."

"Why?" Amy sounded desperate, but she didn't move away from my comforting touch.

"It doesn't work like that. We came here because of what we saw in the future. If we try and prevent the future from happening, we create a paradox." River explained.

"Time can be rewritten." Amy persisted.

"Maybe. But not always in the right way. And not all of it." River moved around to scan from different angles.

"Says who?" Amy asked.

"Two people. Who do you think?" River gave her a look for only a second, before examining a wire on the floor.

Amy gave me a look, because I was most likely one of the two people. "To be fair, I don't think I've said either of those things yet."

Amy tried to speak up again, but River interjected loudly enough so the Doctor could hear. "Doctor? Look at this."

The Doctor came over to see what we were all looking at: River moving a tunnel cap to reveal a large space deep down under us. "So where does that go?"

River peered in with her flashlight and scanner. "There's a network of tunnels running under here."

"Life signs?"

"No, nothing's showing up."

I sat on the floor and swung my legs in the hole, finding my footing on a ladder to go down.

"Be careful!" The Doctor worried.

I rolled my eyes and climbed lower, looking up to River. "Coming?"

"Of course."

**888**

When River gasped upon seeing the Silence in the tunnels, I immediately grabbed her wrist. "Don't look away! These creatures, they're called the Silence and when you look away from them you immediately forget you ever saw them."

River gulped. "That makes sense, because these tunnels are centuries old."

"Yeah, so listen-- we're probably going to forget this anyway, so just answer me-- why is your hair glowing like mine? And more importantly, what's going on? You, me, the Doctor-- the question you didn't actually answer during Amy's wedding."

"Have you been practicing all that?"

"A little. I mean, come on-- you tell me the Doctor needs me, and then you take it back? He's nice and I think he might like me, and then you start flirting? I mean, what is it?"

River took a deep breath, and I wasn't sure if it was because the Silence was moving closer, or to prepare herself for what she was about to say. "Our hair glows because it's actually background radiation from travelling between universes, especially yours which is so far from this one."

"You've been to my universe?"

"Yes, and I know what's supposed to happen. I've already told you all this-- you're a disruption. You're from this universe, but what's peculiar about you is that you're _still_ a disruption anyway-- probably because of your reversed regenerations. I've lived my entire life as a renegade, from the moment I was born as an assasin, to now, as a prisoner, escaping whenever I can. A life like that-- nothing is ever certain. Sometimes I don't act like it but that's all I ever really want, some certainty. You have that, with Dylan and Area 51. But for me, the Doctor is one of the only certain things in my life. You don't know where you stand with him? Well, I don't either. So I'm trying to make a stand now. To make something certain."

"But you do have another thing certain. It's me-- I've always been your friend. And I'm pretty sure I always will be. I know you."

"You know a _version_ of me. The version that ends up happy and with the Doctor."

"You don't need the Doctor to end up happy. You don't need anyone. But you have me anyway."

River shrugged as though I may have been right, but it didn't matter. "Yeah, well. It's too bad I'm going to forget that in a few seconds."

River turned away and went back towards the hole, calling up to everyone that the coast was clear. She had already long forgotten the Silence, and our entire conversation.

I didn't look away from the Silence for just a moment-- letting myself take it all in for a few more moments: that River somehow ends up in my universe, that she has some idea of her future but doesn't know what's going to happen, and that she is, in fact, actively trying to get the Doctor to fall in love with her... or something.

I didn't know what to make of it. Part of me felt bad for River, part of me was angry because of how she kept going back and forth on how much I mean to the Doctor, part of me knew it wasn't her fault because our timelines are messed up, and part of me was annoyed that I was thinking so much about the Doctor anyway when I still had no idea who I was.

I stared at the Silence for a few more moments as for some reason, they began moving back into the shadows. I grew sad about all these things I had learned until it consumed me, because the truth was, as much as I hated to admit it: there was a reason why I couldn't stop thinking so much about the Doctor.

He probably didn't feel the same way-- especially with River around. After turning away Dylan who was my certainty, who had been there for me for years, I felt so gross and sad about this revelation that I didn't want to think about it any more-- as a matter of fact, I wanted to un-think it-- so that's what I did.

I turned away from the Silence and hurried back up the ladder, away from River, before I could remember even making the decision.

**888**

"Hey, there's really nothing down there, just a bunch of tunnels that are super old." I told everyone, once I got out.

"Okay. Wait, have you been crying?" Amy asked me.

"What?" I wiped my face, and realized that there were some tears left over. I knew what I had meant to ask River-- but I also knew I wouldn't remember the answer. However, the tears on my face and the immense pang of sadness I felt when I looked at the Doctor gave me a bit of an idea. "I guess so."

"Well, there's something I have to tell you, and the Doctor." Amy said, quite seriously.

"Help me! Please!" A little girl's voice echoed.

Amy doubled over, and the Doctor ran to her. "Amy? What's wrong?"

"I need to tell you both something. It's important." She croaked.

The little girl's screams got louder and louder, and we all knew she was getting closer to us.

"Doctor!" Canton called from somewhere far away, in search of the girl. The Doctor and I stayed crouched by Amy.

"It's really, really important!" She insisted.

"Doctor, quickly!" Canton shouted again. The call was so urgent that we all got up and ran through the warehouse to find him on the floor, unmoving.

"Is he okay?" Amy worried.

"Just unconscious. Got a proper whack," The Doctor observed.

"Help me!" The little girl's voice grew closer. I searched around for Canton's gun, remembering how Amy was going to use it, and thinking I should try to stop it.

"No wait, Nova!" Amy grabbed my hands, keeping me from moving, and I knew I couldn't look away from the urgent look in her eyes. "And Doctor! I need to tell you something, I need to tell you now." Her eyes darted between us back and forth, as if we would leave if she stopped looking at us.

"Not a great moment!" The Doctor rushed, trying to help Canton.

"But--!" Amy started.

"Just say it!" I shook her.

"I'm pregnant!" Amy shouted, with much more urgency that I remembered.

The Doctor stared at her in shock, and then at me.

"Help me!" The girl begged again. We turned to notice the Apollo astronaut standing before us, arms outstretched towards the Doctor.

Amy reached for Canton's gun, and I scrambled to try to get her away from it. "No, Amy, stop! That's a child!"

"What are you doing?" The Doctor panicked, as Amy grabbed the gun despite my efforts.

"Saving your life!"

Amy shot the gun, and screamed.

 


	4. Day of the Moon (pt 1)

I sat criss-crossed on the concrete floor of Area 51, staring up at the Doctor. "Do you know what this is?"

He stared at me. "I'd say zero balanced dwarf star alloy. The densest material in the universe. Nothing gets through that. You're building me the perfect prison."

I stood up. "Correct."

"Why are you doing this? Do you remember _anything?_ " He pleaded.

I crossed my arms, and studied him. I hadn't seen him in about three months, because I had to go through the initiation process for Area 51 all over again-- the 60s version. There were many things I noticed that I was surprised by: the beard, his eerie calmness, and the strange sadness in his eyes.

"I can't believe you really thought I'd be loyal to a _lunatic._ You've underestimated me, again. As always."

He never stopped trying. "Nova--"

I chuckled in disbelief, shaking my head. "That's not my real name."

"Agent Rivera," a man in a suit called out to me from behind. "You're needed in unit 6."

I nodded, not being able to bring myself to give the Doctor a goodbye. 

**888**

The truth was-- I did not remember everything.

I knew before I went into the tunnel with River that there would be questions I would ask her-- who she was, and who I was, and to the Doctor. I did not remember her answer, but every time I looked at the Doctor-- I felt a pang in my chest.

An overwhelming sadness was the only thing I remembered, so I took it as a sign.

"Nothing can penetrate these walls. Not a sound, not a radio wave. Not the tiniest particle of anything. In here, you are literally cut off from the rest of the universe." Canton placed his fingers into a panel in the steel-black wall, which triggered the door of dark black matter to slide closed. "So I guess they can't hear us, right?"

"Good work, canton. Door sealed?" The Doctor asked.

"You bet."

The Doctor stood up, and shook out of his chains and strait jacket, while the two body bags sat up, revealing Amy and Rory.

"Finally!" Amy huffed.

"These things could really do with air holes," Rory complained.

"Ah yes, so the dead people can breathe." I replied sarcastically, walking over to the corner of the room, and reaching my hand forward into the air, until it eventually touched a surface which revealed itself to be the TARDIS. "Hello again."

**888**

"So, three months, what have we found out?" The Doctor asked.

"Well, they're everywhere, every state in America." The Doctor injected Rory's hand with a device, and he screeched. "Ow!"

"Not just America, the entire world."

"There's a greater concentration here, though." River typed on the monitor, her hair still drying from when she decided to jump off a building and fall into the TARDIS pool.

The Doctor injected Amy. "Ow!"

"You okay?" He quietly asked her.

"All better."

"Better?" The Doctor didn't believe her.

"Turns out I was wrong. I'm not pregnant."

Rory walked over. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Really nothing, seriously." Amy smiled at the boys.

"So you've seen them, but you don't remember them," Canton figured.

"You've seen them too. That night at the warehouse, remember? While you were pretending to hunt us down we saw hundreds of those things. We still don't know what they look like." River explained.

"It's like they edit themselves out of your memory as soon as you look away. The exact second you're not looking at them, you can't remember anything." Rory continued.

"Sometimes you feel a bit sick though, but not always." Amy added.

"Nova's the only one who remembers what they look like," The Doctor said, somewhat quietly, as he took my hand. He injected me, staring at me carefully as if to make sure I didn't break, and I flinched.

"It's the price they pay for putting a parasite in my brain-- I remember their appearance. But not anything else, really. Not when I've seen them." I elaborated.

"So that's why you marked your skin?" Canton turned to Amy.

"Only way we'd know if we'd had an encounter." She leaned against the console.

"How long have they been here?"

"That's what we've spent three months trying to find out."

Rory crossed his arms. "Not easy, if you can't remember anything you discover."

"But how long do you think?" Canton tried.

"As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye, or creaking in your house, or breathing under your bed, or voices through a wall." The Doctor turned to all of us. "They've been running your lives for a very long time now, so keep this straight in your head. We are not fighting an alien invasion, we're leading a revolution. And today the battle begins."

"How?

"Like this," The Doctor whispered, reaching behind him and injecting River, who shrieked. The Doctor laughed. "Ha-ha! Nano recorder. Fuses with the cartilage in your hand." The Doctor injected himself last. "Ow! Then it tunes itself directly to the speech centres in your brain. It'll pick up your voice, no matter what. Telepathic connection. So the moment you see one of the creatures, you activate it." The Doctor held up his hand, pressing into his palm with his ring finger, a glowing red spot pulsing over the space. "And you describe aloud exactly what you're seeing."

He pressed his palm again, and the recorder played back his own voice-- _And you describe aloud exactly what you're seeing._

"Because the moment you break contact, you're going to forget it happened. The light will flash if you've left yourself a message. You keep checking your hand. If you've had an encounter that's the first you'll know about it." The Doctor warned.

"Why didn't you tell me this before we started?"

"I did. But even information about these creatures erases itself over time." The Doctor pressed some buttons on the console . "I couldn't refresh it, cause I couldn't talk to you."

Canton glanced over his shoulder to see the hologram of the Silence, and then turned back to the Doctor and straightened his tie just as he had been asked to do. Everyone stared at him cautiously, and he noticed. "What? What are you staring at?"

"Look at your hand." The Doctor said.

Canton's palm flashed red. "Why's it doing that?"

"What does it mean if the light's flashing? What did I just tell you?"

"I haven't--"

"Play it."

Canton pressed the button, and heard the recording of his own voice noticing the Silence, and the Doctor telling him to straighten his bow tie.

Canton turned to the Silence in real time, shocked again.

"It's a hologram, extrapolated from the photo on Amy's phone. Take a good long look." The Doctor flipped a switch that made the hologram disappear. "You just saw an image of one of the creatures we're fighting. Describe it to me."

Canton tried, but blanked out. "I can't."

"No, neither can I. Nova?" The Doctor asked me.

I hesitated for a second, not used to the Doctor actually talking to me again, both because of the fact that I haven't really seen him in months, and because of the fact that the sadness in my heart made me feel like he shouldn't want to. "Tall, grey-ish white with a balloon shaped head, mouthless, bony, only holes for eyes and nostrils. It looks like the Scream painting, and it's always wearing a suit." I moved over to sit in the pilot's chair, letting everyone else figure things out around the console.

"You straightened my bow-tie because I planted the idea in your head while you were looking at the creature," the Doctor explained.

"So they could do that to people. You could be doing stuff and not really knowing why you're doing it." Amy added.

"Like post-hypnotic suggestion?" Rory added, and I almost wanted to smile at how right he was.

"Ruling the world with post-hypnotic suggestion?" Amy finished, scared.

The Doctor went back around the console. "Now then, little girl in a space suit. They got the space suit from NASA, but where did they get the girl?"

"Could be anywhere." Canton tried.

"Except they probably stayed close to that warehouse, cos why bother doing anything else? And they take her from somewhere to cause the least amount of attention. But you'll have to find her. I'm off to NASA." The Doctor spun around, moving right up to me. "Nova, come with me."

"What?" I stuttered, looking up at him from my chair.

"Come on, Apollo 11! That'll cheer you up, eh?" The Doctor leaned down and poked my sides, grinning.

I struggled not to laugh as I grabbed the Doctor's hands and pushed them away from me. "I'm not sad," I lied.

"Yes you are," he whispered, holding out his hand. I took it slowly, and he pulled me up, his other arm around my waist, just like when he returned my locket at Amy's wedding all over again. My heart stopped for a moment, at the memory, and at our current proximity. "Please-- just stay with me."

I frowned at the Doctor, wondering if he figured out the fact that I didn't feel the desire to be here anymore like before. I stuck around for three months because in a way, I was still working at 51-- and I didn't have to see the Doctor, or think about him and the strange unexplainable feelings that came along with him. I needed to be doing _something_ at all times or I would grow restless-- and back home I was given a three month break, which equated to a lot more time in this universe.

I did consider going back now, but when the Doctor reached up and moved a strand of hair away from my face, studying it carefully, treating me carefully-- I knew that I couldn't. I didn't want to be cowardly like that, and either way, I belonged here.

I was going to stay here for as long as it would take to feel like that again, even if it hurt.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> everybody in their feelings including me,


	5. Day of the Moon (pt 2)

"One more time, sir. How the hell did you get into the command module?" A man in a dress shirt and tie asked the Doctor.

We were both sitting completely relaxed-- the Doctor with one leg over the other, me with my legs criss-crossed in the chair, despite the fact that we were in handcuffs. After all, we were in a random mission control classroom, not jail.

"I told you! I'm on a top secret mission for the President." The Doctor attempted to bite the chain of his cuffs. "Nova, can't you do those funny secret codeword things again?"

"Nah, I doubt these men have a high enough clearance to know about any of them." The man seemed offended, and I raised my eyebrows, leaning back in the chair. I knew I struck a weakness. "They'll just have to trust that the President sent us."

The man smiled at me condescendingly. "Well maybe if you could get President Nixon to assure us of that, sweetheart, that would be swell."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't call me sweetheart."

The man scoffed and turned to tell his partner something, and right on cue, the double doors swung open, revealing the man himself, and Rory and River following behind, dressed as secretaries.

The men stumbled to stand up straight as they realized who had just entered.

"Hello, I believe it's Mr. Gardner, is that correct?" President Nixon strode into the room, shaking the hand of the man who had just called me sweetheart. "Head of security?"

"Ah, yes, sir, yes, Mr. President." The man stuttered.

"Mr. Grant, is it?" The President looked to the other man, hand outstretched.

"Yes, Mr. President," He shook his hand back.

The President stood tall. "The hopes and dreams of millions of Americans stand here today, at Cape Kennedy, and you are the men who guard those dreams. On behalf of the American people, I thank you."

"You're welcome, Mr. President," Sweetheart Man said.

Nixon nodded. "I understand you have a baby on the way, Mr. Grant?"

"Yes, Mr. President," The other man smiled.

"What are you hoping for, a boy or a girl?"

"Just a healthy American, sir," The man smiled again, more nervously this time.

"A healthy American will do just nicely," The President laughed, giving the man a friendly shoulder punch. "Now, fellas, listen. This man here-- codename, the Doctor, and his partner, Nova, are doing some work for me personally. Could you cut them a little slack?"

"Er, Mr. President, they did break into Apollo 11," Sweetheart Man pointed out, uncomfortable.

Nixon discreetly gave us exasperated look behind their backs. I shrugged innocently while the Doctor mouthed, _sorry!_

"Well... I'm sure they had a very good reason for that," Nixon smiled through gritted teeth. "But I need you to release them now, so they could get on with some very important work for the American people. Could you do that for me?"

"Well..." Sweetheart Man tried, hesitant.

"Son, I am your Commander-In-Chief," Nixon reminded him, implying that he wasn't really asking.

"Then I guess that would be fine, Mr. President."

The President flashed a grin. "Glad to hear it."

I smiled victoriously up at Sweetheart Man as he uncuffed me. "Don't worry, _sweetheart_. You _might_ get to my clearance one day. Might."

The man grunted at me, and the Doctor tugged my arm to pull me away from him, just barely revealing a smile.

**888**

"What?" I asked River, who wouldn't stop staring at me as I fixed some TARDIS controls. Rory and the Doctor were outside, dropping off President Nixon at his oval office.

"You're growing up," she smiled.

"Yeah, that's what happens..." I trailed, not knowing what she meant.

"Are you feeling alright?" River asked me, as though she was trying not to sound too worried.

"Yes? I mean, I was kind of sad but, you know, reuniting with people after three months and then stepping into the first rocket to land on the moon can shake up your mood a bit." I gave a small laugh.

"I mean, medically. How's your health?" River asked me, walking up to me and placing a hand on my forehead.

"Fine? I'm... a little hungry?" River seemed to freeze when she held her hand to my forehead, as if she had noticed something. "Are _you_ feeling alright?"

River grabbed my locket swiftly, but I quickly grabbed her wrist. "You are _not_ pulling that on me again."

River laughed. "So I've already done that to you? At the pandorica?"

"Yes..."

River tugged at my necklace again anyway, and this time, her face fell again, even further than when she touched my forehead.

"River, what's wrong?" I asked, moving away, feeling protective over my locket.

"You're growing up. You're learning more. And eventually, you're going to know who I really am," She sighed solemnly.

"What's wrong with who you really are? I mean, you're Amy and Rory's daughter, you're the kid in the suit, I know that." I tried, thankful to the universe that my parasite did not trigger, and that she already knew what I was talking about.

"That's who I am to Amy and Rory, and who I am to the Doctor. Not who I am to _you._ "

"Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because... If I tell you who I am, you'll find out what I _did_ even faster."

"What is it?" I tried again, moving closer this time.

River shrugged. "Sad."

" _River_ ," I whined, sick of her vagueness, grabbing her arm and wiggling it around, trying to annoyingly make her tell me.

"I'm just really sorry." River tried, shrugging again.

I shrugged too. "Well then, apology accepted."

River laughed. We both knew that whatever would happen, or had already happened, or was happening-- was way more complicated and sad and dangerous than that. But we were both awfully good at pretending.

I laughed too. Maybe that was why we got along.

The TARDIS phone rang, and when River picked it up, her face fell again. "What do you mean, Amy's gone?"

River didn't even look to me, and in her panicked state, left the phone hanging off the console and ran to throw open the TARDIS doors. "Doctor, it's Canton! Quick, he needs us!"

Pretending only worked so well.

**888**

Canton stood in front of a door, pointing his gun at it, sweat rolling down his face. "Amy, can you hear me? I'm going to try to blow the lock, I need you to stand back!"

"No wait!" I sprinted ahead, grabbing Canton's arm and preventing him from firing a bullet.

"I've got it!" The Doctor took out his sonic, and used it on the lock. "Amy, we're here. Are you okay?"

"I can't see!" She cried back.

The door opened, and when we entered, it was obvious Amy wasn't there. On the floor was a space suit, which was out of place in the little girl's nursery.

"Where is she, Doctor?" Rory asked.

River opened the space suit helmet. "It's empty."

I picked up a nano recorder from the ground, and gave it to Rory. Amy's voice blared through it. "It's dark, so dark. I don't know where I am. Please, can anybody hear me?"

"They took this out of her? How did they do that? Where is she?" Rory asked me.

I shook my head silently.

Rory gulped as he listened to Amy's sobs through the tiny device. "Why can I still hear her?"

"Is it a recording?" River asked.

The Doctor scanned the recorder with his screwdriver. "It defaults to live. This is current. Wherever she is right now, this is what she's saying."

Rory held the recorder up to his lips, speaking desperately. "Amy, can you hear me? Wherever you are, we're coming, I swear."

"She can't hear you. I'm so sorry, it's one way." The Doctor explained, his head hung low.

Rory grew angry. "She can always hear me, Doctor. Always, wherever she is. She knows that I am coming for her, do you understand me?" His eyes were glassy. "Always."

"Doctor, are you out there? Can you hear me? Doctor? Oh, God. Please, please, Doctor, just get me out of this." Amy choked. The Doctor looked down, almost ashamed.

Rory could not hide his disappointment, but he also couldn't hide his worry. "He's coming. I'll bring him, I swear."

"Hello, is someone in there?" A frail looking man in an ill-fitting suit stumbled into the doorway. "I think someone has been shot! I think we should help... We..." The man's face eased from panic to confusion, as if it happened all the time. "I can't... I can't remember."

The Doctor immediately ran after him, and followed him into a darker, more beat-up looking room, with a beat-up looking silent on the floor, gunshot.

The Doctor sent me a look, as if asking me if I wanted to go ahead. After all, it was this species which controlled the parasite in my brain-- but that was the reason I stepped back. I couldn't think of anything useful I could do.

The Doctor knelt down, and slowly reached out a hand towards the Silent, but not touching it. "Okay... Who and what are you?"

I didn't know if it was just because it was shot, or because now i was up close, but the Silent looked extra slimey and gross-- like each tiny ripple in its skin was oozing with some sort of alien sweat. Like uncooked meat.

Its shattering voice was equally unpleasant. "Silence, Doctor. We are the Silence." It held a four-pronged hand to the wound that seemed to be oozing dirty soap. "And silence will fall."

 


	6. Day of the Moon (pt 3)

"Hello boys," I greeted, stepping out of the zero-balanced dwarf star alloy prison cell, with Canton at my side.

"Hello again."

The soldiers before us pointed their guns at us, while the scientists froze, all in panic.

"Sir, Ma'am, you've been in there for four days. What the hell have you been doing?" One of the soldiers asked, shaking.

"That doesn't matter anymore. We need Dr. Shepard, now." I commanded, making a step to walk forward-- but stopping when I realized the soldiers took off the safety on the gun, genuinely ready to hit me with a bullet. "Really boys?"

"Ma'am, I need to talk to Colonel Jefferson now!" The soldier shouted aggressively.

"No, you really don't," Canton said, right as a third person stepped out of the tiny cell.

As soon as the man of the hour stepped out, the soldiers put their guns away and snapped up, as if they were all functioning on the same autodrive. "Hi, fellas. I'm President Nixon. I want to tell you, on behalf of the American people, how much we appreciate all of your hard work."

They were practically magic words.

**888**

"My god! What is it!" Dr. Shepard exclaimed, for about the 23rd time within the past hour. We had called him to come help fix the Silent's wounds, and he was fairly good at it, aside from the fact that every time he looked away, he forgot what he was doing.

I sighed, frustrated and worried, but Canton spoke for me, calm and collected.

"It's just an alien, Dr. Shepard," after all, we worked with aliens all the time at Area 51, even in 1969.

"Someone's already been treating it," Dr. Shepard noticed, eyeing it closely for the 46th time.

"Yeah. You've been treating it," Canton reminded him, although it didn't really do anything.

"Does Colonel Jefferson know this thing is in here?" Dr. Shepard asked.

Him and Canton kept going back and forth like that, treating the wound, forgetting about the wound, learning all about it again-- and it made me anxious. Thankfully, my phone rang, and I answered it.

"Is it done?" The Doctor asked.

"Almost. He keeps forgetting, though... Doctor, I'm worried forgetting and remembering the Silence over and over might have long-term side effects. Like a drug, or something. I'm worried that since Dr. Shepard keeps having to look away and look back, that it's going to be worse."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because... remember the man back at the children's home? Even when he tried speaking to us normally, he was so out of focus, and he looked malnourished. If I didn't know it was the Silence I would probably assume he was on some sort of drug."

"I think you might be right. It does affect people like a drug, but not an Earth drug." The Doctor exclaimed unnecessarily loudly on the other line. I heard banging in the background, and knew that him and River were probably tinkering with with the space suit back at the abandoned warehouse while he was talking to me.

"As opposed to what? A space drug?"

"Yes, there are many space drugs. Even Time Lord drugs."

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not. Though the effects tend to be way different in comparison to earth drugs. Time Lord drugs along with other space drugs often grant you the ability to do something, but at an awful price. I wouldn't doubt if the Silence have some sort of drug in them, naturally or not, that grants them the power to give commands to humans-- the downside being that they're forgotten immediately. Or, that they have to look like that."

"That's rude," I laughed. "We're done here. I have to go."

"See you later."

I hung up my phone. Dr. Shepard had left, unknowingly done with his job. The quiet of the room only lasted a few moment until the Silent spoke up.

"You tend to my wounds. You are foolish." It chattered, panting on the ground.

Canton took out Amy's phone, the camera open. "Why? What would you do instead?"

"We have ruled your lives since your lives began. You should kill us all on sight, but you will never remember we were even here. Your will is ours."

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but thanks, it's exactly what we needed to hear. This is a video phone... whatever a video phone is." Canton stopped the recording, and sent the video to the Doctor.

**888**

"Oh, interesting! Very Aickman road, seen one of these before." The Doctor observed, as he stepped out of the TARDIS, and into the space that the Silence occupied with Amy held hostage. River discreetly stopped at Area 51 with the TARDIS, picking me up so I could come with them here.

"Yeah, this literally looks exactly like the ship that was on Craig's house." I agreed.

"Yes, but abandoned, wonder how that happened. Oh, I suppose we'll find out," The Doctor replied to me. "Rory, River, keep one Silent in eyeshot at all times. Oh, hello, sorry, you're in the middle of something. Just had to say though, have you seen what's on telly?" The Doctor addressed the Silence, as if he just now noticed that they were there.

"Amy, are you okay? We brought a TV." I commented, as the Doctor set a small old television on the ship's sad-looking console.

She nodded at me, bewildered.

The Silence tried moving to the Doctor, but he interrupted, holding his hands up. "Ah now, stay where you are. Because look at me, I'm confident. You want to watch that-- me when I'm confident. Oh, and this is my friend, River. Nice hair, clever, has own gun, and unlike me, she really doesn't mind shooting people."

"And my other friend Nova here has another incriminating device," The Doctor put his hands on my shoulders. "I don't know what it does, but she says it will help, and I trust her."

The Doctor moved on, continuing to move around the ship and explain himself while threatening the silence-- but I couldn't pay attention, too focused on those last three, brand-new words: _I trust her._

The Doctor paused for a second, pulling out the antennas from the TV, which was showing the historic, first-ever moon landing. "Do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion. And that's nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars, you just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years-- and every single one of them, at some point in their lives, will look back at this man, taking that very first step. And they will never, ever forget it."

"Oh," the Doctor took out his phone. "But they'll forget this bit. Ready?" He spoke into it.

I knew Canton was on the other line, replying that he was ready. The Doctor stuck his phone to another device, triggering it, along with satellites everywhere.

The image on the TV of the moon landing was interrupted by an imagine of the Silence, repeating, "You should kill us all on sight," over and over again. I watched as the words repeated themselves, and people's faces were shown on screen, all of them blinking and blank-faced, internalizing the order.

The Doctor smiled. "You've given the order for your own execution, and the whole planet just heard you."

"One giant leap for mankind..." The TV echoed.

"And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence!" The Doctor cheered. "You just raised an army against yourself. And now, for a thousand generations, you're going to be ordering them to destroy you everyday. How fast can you run? Because today's the day the human race throw you off their planet. They won't even know they're doing it." The Silent leader advanced towards the Doctor, to the point where he was backed against the console. The Doctor rushed his next words. "I think quite possibly the word you're looking for right now is ' _oops!_ ' Run! Guys, I mean us, run!"

The Doctor slipped away from the Silent holding him back, as the rest of the Silence began drawing on their energy. River began shooting at them with her laser space-gun, the Doctor somehow used his sonic to keep them back, and I used my own invention I kept in my TARDIS room-- a shock pulsator I made a year ago.

It looked like an insanely bedazzled baton that was about a foot long, if it were bedazzled with alien computer parts instead of jewels. It shot out a glittery red electric impulse, which interrupted the Silence from drawing their energy, and jolted them a bit.

The Doctor went to help Amy get out of her restraints, and led her and Rory into the TARDIS before rejoining River and I. "Don't let them build to full power!"

"I know, there's a reason why I'm shooting! What are you doing?"

"Helping!"

"Doctor, just go inside and get ready to leave, River and I got this!" I interrupted.

The Doctor ran in the TARDIS quickly, and I felt River move against my back. "Together?"

"Always," I smiled.

**888**

"So we're safe again," President Nixon shook my hand, and then the Doctor's back in the Oval Office.

"Safe? No, of course you're not safe. There's a billion other things out there, waiting to burn your whole world. But if you want to pretend you're safe just so you can sleep at night, okay, you're safe. But you're not really. You're not doing the best job, actually." The Doctor turned to wink at me. It was obvious that the Doctor and I shared similar political opinions.

"It was nice working with you, Canton." I shook his hand.

"Likewise," He smiled.

The Doctor shook his hand also. "Canton. Till the next one, eh?"

"Looking forward to it," He nodded.

The Doctor turned back to Nixon. "Canton just wants to get married. Hell of a reason to kick him out of the FBI."

"I'm sure something can be arranged," Nixon nodded.

"I'm counting on you."

We both turned to leave, and the Doctor was already through the door when Nixon interrupted. "Er, Nova, Canton here tells me you two are... from the future," he tried cautiously. "Hardly seems possible, but I was wondering... Will I be remembered?"

I walked up to him until we were face-to-face, and he looked at me with fear, and I somewhat enjoyed it. I crossed my arms. "American Presidents are rarely forgotten, _especially_ ones that--"

"Okay!" The Doctor rushed to my side, snaking a hand around my waist, stopping me from saying anything further. "That's all from us now, say hi to David Frost for me!"

"David Frost?" The President wondered.

**888**

"I'm sorry for a different thing this time," River told me, as I sat criss crossed with her on her bed in Stormcage. The adventure was over, and it was time to drop her off-- but we snuck in some time to talk first. Aside from the fact that we were in a prison cell, it reminded me of the sleepovers Meredith and I used to have.

"Oh my god," I threw my head back dramatically, earning a laugh from River. "What is it now?"

"You're always there for me, Nova. If I can't change that about you, I can't change anything else, either."

"Such as...?" I tried, smiling innocently, even though I knew it wouldn't work.

"Such as spoilers!"

I laughed half-heartedly, distracted, looking down at my locket and fiddling with it, wondering a million different things about my future at once. River grabbed both my hands and made me look at her.

"You gave me so much, Nova. You don't know what it is yet, but you'll find out very soon. I know you put yourself in everyone else's shoes, but just know that, when the time comes, I had a good life." She looked at me sincerely. "You are not at all indebted to me. You shouldn't make your choices like that-- I am indebted to you. I had such a good life, and a long one... and you deserve one too."

"Okay..." I spoke slowly, like I always did around her. "I don't know what this is for, but thanks."

I leaned forward and hugged her, and River laughed and rubbed my back soothingly. "Oh, eventually you'll know. Eventually you'll know everything."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sometimes, i go weeks without writing. other times, i write two chapters in two days. i'm so excited about this book, you guys have no idea what's coming skjfhkjhsjf
> 
> i don't know when or how fast the next chapters will be uploaded because i'm moving away from home for the first time and starting university in the next two weeks!!! hopefully it won't be too much, i don't know, i'm nervous,,,
> 
> i uploaded the last book all at once, but for this one, i'm just writing it as i go along


	7. The Curse of the Black Spot (pt 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi it's finals week here's three more chapters :))))))

"We made no signal," The Captain of the ship narrowed his eyes at us. He didn't necessarily make a signal himself-- but the TARDIS picked up a big one around here, so that's why we stood there, on a pirate ship in the middle of nowhere in the 17th century.

"Our sensors picked you up. Ship in distress," The Doctor explained.

"Doctor..." I gave him a look, nudging him on the shoulder, but he only looked at me confused, not understanding.

"Sensors?" The Captain had no idea what he was talking about.

"Yes. Okay," The Doctor turned to me, now understanding what I meant. "Problem word. Seventeenth century. My ship automatically... er... noticed-ish... that your ship was having some bother."

"You're bad at this," I mumbled to the Doctor, before turning back to the Captain. "One of our stowaways on board was a witch, and she told us there was something wrong with this ship, so we came to see."

At this, the Captain nodded slowly, along with the crew. I smiled.

"Ah-- yes, good one," The Doctor nodded at me. "And that's our ship, back there," The Doctor pointed to the TARDIS.

I closed my eyes and groaned in annoyance. "Really, Doctor? You couldn't have just pretended?"

"That big blue crate?" The Captain looked suspicious.

The Doctor snapped and pointed at the Captain.

I sighed heavily.

"Tis more magic, Captain Avery. They're spirits." A crew member spoke quietly. "How else would they have found their way below decks?"

"Multidimensional Engineering," I answered.

Everyone looked at me strangely, no one understanding, except for the Doctor. "So I can't say sensors, but you can say Multidimensional Engineering?"

I threw my hands up in frustration. "Well you already ruined the perfectly good witch thing I had going on! And it's not like you didn't say it anyway."

"Yeah, after you hit me!" The Doctor rubbed a spot on his arm as though he were in a great deal of pain, which I knew he wasn't.

I rolled my eyes. "I did not _hit_ you, it was a _light nudge_."

"Well maybe you should nudge lighter!"

"Well maybe you should think before you speak!"

"Well maybe _you_ should--"

The Doctor was cut off by Captain Avery, who aimed a pistol right at his face. "You're stowaways! Only explanation." It was apparent that Captain Avery was the type of person who did not change his mind once he decided the truth. "Eight days, we've been stranded here. Becalmed. You must have stowed away before we sailed."

"What do we do with 'em?" A pirate asked, grinning now.

"Oh, I think they deserve our hospitality."

**888**

The Doctor stood on a plank jutting over the edge of the ship, staring at the deep ocean below him as pirates laughed. "I suppose that laughing like that is in the job description. _Can you do the laugh?_ Check. Grab yourself a parrot, welcome aboard!"

Captain Avery was the only pirate not laughing. "Stocks are low, only one barrel of water remains. We don't need four more empty bellies to fill." He explained. "Take the doxies below to the galley. Set them to work, they won't need much feeding."

Two pirates grabbed Amy and I as he commanded that. "Hey, we are _not_ prostitutes! I mean, no offense to them, but seriously! Stop touching me!" I tried wringing my way out of their grasp, managing to knee one of them and making him double over.

"You are now," The other, unfortunately stronger pirate grinned disgustingly at me, his teeth chipped and yellowed. I was too busy shuddering to bite back.

"Rory, a little help?" Amy tried, struggling against pirates grabbing her also.

Rory was being restrained by a pirate also, and did the best he could. "Hey, listen, right. She's not a doxy."

Amy huffed. "I didn't mean just tell them off, but thanks anyway."

The pirate men forced us into a dark dingy room down below, and closed the door on top of us.

I looked around the room, which was sparsely illuminated by the outdoor moonlight, and opened a chest, which had swords in it.

I picked one up, feeling powerful, and raised my eyebrows at Amy. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking."

She grabbed a bigger sword, and a pirate's jacket and hat. "Oh, yeah."

**888**

When we made it back above the decks, the Doctor was still standing on the plank with no intention of jumping off, rambling at a million miles per hour, wasting time.

"Where are the rest of the crew? This is a big ship. Big for five of you. I suppose the rest of them are hiding some place." The Doctor held his nose, switching between different diving positions, as if to assure them that he was going to jump at some point. "And they're going to jump out and shout _boo_."

"Boo!" Amy shouted, sword in front of her, dressed in some other pirate gear, crouched in her version of a fighting stance.

"Drop the gun," I pointed my sword at Captain Avery.

Amy kicked the gun out of their reach, waving the sword around between everyone else. "The rest of you, on your knees."

"Nova, Amy, what are you doing?" The Doctor asked angrily, coming down from the plank.

"Saving your life! Unless you don't want me to," I responded with an equal amount of anger.

"Put down the sword. A sword could kill us all, girl," Captain Avery told me fearfully.

"Yep, thanks. That's actually why we're pointing them at you." Amy narrowed her eyes.

A pirate jumped out at Amy with a rope, and another came at me with a wooden stick. Amy fought back relentlessly, but I stumbled back-- knowing what would happen if I nicked them. Technically, they would be fine, but I would rather not.

While I tried stalling the pirate that was jousting me with a stick, Amy swung from a rope that hung loosely from a sail, knocking people out of the way, and cutting a man with her knife before landing on a barrel at the other end of the ship, right by the Doctor, who was being held by Captain Avery.

The man she cut stared down at his hand, tears in his eyes-- a strange sight to see on an intimidating pirate. "You have killed me."

"No way, it's just a cut." Amy almost wanted to laugh, while a black spot washed over the pirate's hand. "What kind of rubbish pirates are you?"

"One drop, that's all it takes. One drop and she will rise out of the ocean!" Captain Avery warned, still holding the Doctor back as his hostage.

Amy chuckled in disbelief. "Come on, I barely even scratched him! What are you all in such a huff about?"

Another pirate furiously charged at Amy, and she swung at him on her rope again, throwing her sword back. Rory lunged forward, trying to catch the sword-- but failing. The sword cut his hand, and the black spot appeared.

"Doctor? Nova? What's happening to me?" Rory showed his stained hand.

"She can smell the blood on your skin, she's marked you for death." Avery explained in a low voice.

"She?" Rory asked.

"A demon, out there in the ocean."

The Doctor smiled. "Okay, groovy! So not just pirates today, we've managed to bagsy a ship where there's a _demon_ popping in," The Doctor widened his eyes and laughed. He took Rory's hand. "Very efficient. I mean, if something's going to kill you, it's nice that it drops you a note to remind you."

The Doctor gave Rory's face a playful smack, until the Siren song started in the distance-- a feminine, echoing chorus, that also sounded extremely eerie.

"Quickly, now. Block out the sound!" A pirate called, the rest of them covering their ears.

"What?" Rory asked.

"The creature." Avery explained, "She charms all her victims with that song."

"Oh great, so put my fingers in my ears, that's your plan?" Rory asked incredulously, tapping the Doctor on the shoulder. "Doctor, come on let's go, let's get back to the uh..." Rory stumbled. "Oh, back the..." Rory giggled, jerking around sluggishly as though he were drunk. Or high. Or drunk and high at the same time.

"The music. It's working on him, look," A pirate pointed out.

Rory laughed, stumbling into Amy. " _You_ are... so... _beautiful_."

"What?" Amy asked.

"I _love_ your get up. That's great. You should dress as a pirate more often." Rory reached out to her, grinning widely. "Hey, cuddle me, shipmate."

"Rory, stop!" Amy was scared now.

Rory grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. "Everything is _totally_ brilliant, isn't it? Look at these pirates." Rory stared at a pirate curiously. " _Look at their brilliant beards!"_ Rory whispered loudly. "I'd like a beard..." Rory said this as though it were an amazing revelation, and stumbled into the other pirate Amy had cut earlier, who laughed along with him as he said, "I'm going to grow a beard."

"You're not!" Amy shouted, but Rory didn't hear her, and only kept laughing.

"The music turns them into fools." Avery said.

"Oh my god," Amy's eyes went wide as the ocean glowed a neon green, the Siren song getting louder until finally, she rose up from the water herself-- floating like an alien angel, singing softly, walking on the ship towards Rory and the other pirate with an arm outstretched.

Amy held Rory back, so he didn't move even though he tried. When the other cursed pirate walked out, the Doctor and I reached out our hands to try and stop him-- but it was an extremely lazy attempt. Even though I knew I wasn't under her spell-- she was still entrancing, and having my eyes on her felt right and comfortable-- like when you get really sleepy and your eyes train on an object. You could stare forever.

The cursed pirate touched the Siren's hand, and disintegrated into nothing, fading away into a misty cloud, and then everyone scrambled.

Rory kept trying to reach out, but Amy moved him aside, facing the alien. "Sorry, but he's spoken for."

The Siren screeched, glowing red instead of green, her eyes also shining a brilliant ruby, like the color of the jewel on my locket, knocking Amy backward with an overwhelming gush of air.

"Amy!" I shouted, helping her up. "Doctor, get Rory!"

The Doctor ran up and put Rory's arms behind his back, dragging him away. "Everybody into the hold!"

"Hey!" Rory struggled, but the Doctor tugged him in easily anyway, everyone splashing into the hold, which had about a foot of gathered musty water.

"What is that thing?" Amy demanded, holding Rory to her side awkwardly as he tried clawing at her for no apparent reason.

"The legend, the Siren." Avery looked up as though he were afraid it was still there. "Many a merchant ship laden with treasure has fallen prey to her. She's been hunting us ever since we were becalmed. Picking off the injured."

"Like a shark. A shark can smell blood," A pirate suggested.

"Okay, just like a shark." The Doctor tried to gather the facts in his mind. "In a dress. And singing. And green. A green singing shark in an evening gown."

"The ship is cursed!" Avery declared his truth, and I couldn't help but laugh at it.

"Yeah, right. _Cursed_ is big with humans. Means bad things are happening but you can't be bothered to find an explanation." The Doctor glared at him.

"She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Rory stared up, pushing at Amy, who hugged him mostly to prevent him from falling.

"Actually, I think you'll find she isn't," Amy tapped me on the shoulder. "We have to leave, now."

"Trust me, I want to leave," I grumbled, not really expecting anyone to listen, but the Doctor turned to me sharply, looking alarmed. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't know what. I didn't know what to say either-- and I knew that neither of us were sure if what I wanted to leave was just this place in this era, or this universe entirely.

"That thing of yours really is a ship?" Avery cut into my thoughts of Area 51-- a place my mind drifted to way too often recently.

"Well, it's not propelled by the wind." The Doctor looked around the room, distracted.

"Show me!" Avery pointed his pistol at him again. "Weigh anchor. Make it sail!"

"And the gun's back. You're big on the gun thing, aren't you?" The Doctor glared at it as though it were an annoying person. "Freud would say you're compensating. Have you ever met Freud? No." The Doctor closed his eyes and threw his head back, obviously stressed too, trying to imagine his happy place, which was apparently, "Comfy sofa..."

"Leave the cursed one captain, the creature can have him." A pirate suggested.

"Yes, please..." Rory whispered.

"We don't want the siren coming after us," Avery agreed.

The pirates suddenly shouted, one of them moving his leg up to show a slimy insect attached to it.

"It's a leech!" Amy saw, and everyone scrambled.

"Everyone out of the water!" The Doctor shouted, jumping onto a crate. Everyone jumped up onto crates and barrels, but there weren't enough for me, so the Doctor reached out his hand. "Nova, come on!"

I sighed inwardly as I took his hand reluctantly, and he immediately pulled me onto the crate he was standing on, having no other choice but to hug me since the space was barely enough to fit our feet. I had spent a lot of time on the TARDIS after Space 1969 turning my unexplainable sadness at him into annoyance, but when he held me close like this, keeping me from falling, it disappeared.

The pirate still in the water ripped off the leech from his leg. "It's bitten me, I'm bleeding!" The black spot appeared on his hand.

"She wants blood. Why does she want blood?" The Doctor thought out loud.

"What were you saying about leaving the cursed ones behind?" Amy asked the now cursed pirate.

"It's okay, we're safe down here. No _curse_ is getting through three solid inches of timber." The Doctor calmed everyone.

"Which would be nice if it were actually a curse." I added, the Doctor barely having time to absorb what I said when the Siren sprung up through the water behind us.

"Ah! Hello again." The Doctor greeted nervously.

Amy held back Rory, but the leeched pirate walked forward, and continued walking forward despite everyone else reaching out to him, telling him to stop. He disappeared with her, leaving only his hat behind, everyone rushing out of the room.

We entered below the decks into a dry room, the Doctor bolting the door behind everyone.

" _Safe?_!" Amy criticized what he said before.

"I have my good days and my bad days!" The Doctor defended himself.

"How did she get in?" Avery asked.

The Doctor used his sonic on the hat the now-disintegrated leech pirate had left behind. "The bilge water-- she's using the water like a portal, a door. She can materialize through a single drop. We need to go somewhere with no water."

"Well thank god we're not in the middle of the ocean!" Amy cried. The Doctor put the pirate's hat on.

"Did you see here eyes? Like... crystal pools," Rory slurred, still attached to Amy.

"You are in enough trouble," Amy mumbled.

"The magazine!" Avery suggested.

"The what?" I asked.

"He means the armory where the powder's stored." The Doctor translated.

"It's dry as a bone," Avery promised.

"Good, let's go there," The Doctor stood up.

Avery cocked his gun at him again. "I give the orders."

"Ah. Worried because I'm wearing a hat now?" The Doctor moved ahead anyway, toward the magazine, "Nobody touch anything sharp!"

A pirate took out a ring of keys, struggling to find the right one.

"Quickly, man!" Avery rushed him.

"The key, 'tis gone, Captain!" The pirate realized.

"Well then," I simply pushed the door open. "That makes it easier."

"Who took the key?" The Doctor asked, as we all stepped into the new, dry gun room and locked the door behind us.

A muffled coughing sound resonated through the room, and Avery approached the barrel it was coming from slowly, until he snatched the lid off. He reached in, and pulled out a young boy. "You fool. You fool, boy! What are you doing here?"

"Who is he?" A pirate asked.

"What, he's not one of the crew?" The Doctor mocked.

Avery sighed. "No, he's my son."

 


	8. The Curse of the Black Spot (pt 2)

Everyone stood around the crowded gun room, looking on awkwardly as Avery scolded his son, Toby. "What in god's name possessed you, boy? Your mother will be searching for you."

Toby looked down quietly, sadly, not saying anything at all. His mother would not be searching for him, and Avery sighed when he realized this. "When?"

"Last winter. Fever," The boy remembered sadly, before feeling a rush of hope as he remembered where he was now. "She told me all about you. How you were a Captain in the Navy. An honorable man, she said. How I would be proud to know you," Toby paused momentarily to have a coughing fit, and declared as sternly as he could-- "I've come to join your crew."

"I don't want you here." Avery mumbled.

"You can't send me back." I saw the Doctor smile at the little boy's determination. "It's too late. We're a hundred miles from home."

"It's dangerous here. There is a monster aboard." Avery scared the boy. "She leaves a mark on men's skin."

"The black spot?" Toby showed his hand, already marked for good.

**888**

"There's nothing wrong with the boy. He has no scars," Avery paced back and forth in the room.

"Yep, ignore my last theory," The Doctor said.

Amy sat next to him on a big crate, and pat his arm. "He has his good days and his bad days."

"She doesn't come for those who draw blood-- she comes for anyone who's hurt or wounded." I explained, sitting on the other side of the room, next to Rory.

"Like a hunter chooses the weakest animal," the Doctor continued.

"Okay, look. He's got a fever," Amy gestured to Toby.

The Doctor nodded. "The Siren knows it. Humans, second-rate. Damage too easily. It's only a matter of time before everyone gets bruised. My ship, it can sail us all away from here." The Doctor turned to Avery. "You, me, and Nova, we fetch it. Let's go," the Doctor stood.

"Actually, I think I'll just stay," leaning my head on Rory's shoulder, not wanting to go through the emotional exhaustion of being near the Doctor if I didn't have to.

When I saw the Doctor's fallen expression, I almost felt bad for saying that, until Captain Avery pulled his pistol on him again. "And so will I. You're not the captain here, remember?"

The Captain and the Doctor stared each other down this time, until Toby opened a water crate, and the Siren's hand screeched out through it.

The Doctor ran ahead and forced the lid back down on the barrel with some struggle, and put a hand on the boy's shoulder, as if making sure he was really still there.

"The water's dangerous, that's how she gets through. One touch of her hand and you're a dead man!" Captain Avery warned his son.

"We're all cursed if we stay aboard!" A pirate exclaimed.

"It's not a curse. Curse means game over. Curse means we're helpless. We are not helpless!" The Doctor shouted to the pirate, making the room go silent. He turned to Avery. "Captain, what's our next move?"

Captain Avery put a silver pendant around his son's neck, and spoke to the last two remaining members of his crew. "Wait with the boy."

"Captain, we're all in danger here," one of them argued.

"I said wait, and barricade the door after we've gone!" Avery ordered.

I touched the Doctor's arm as he walked away, stopping him, struck with an idea. "Doctor, you don't need to go outside to get to the TARDIS. I can get them out."

"What-- No." The Doctor glared at me sternly once he realized what I meant, and it somewhat scared me.

"What do you mean, no?" I protested.

The Doctor continued glaring at me seriously. "You are not doing that."

"Doing what?" Amy asked.

"My locket. I can get everyone out with my locket, one by one. Usually it makes me reappear in this universe by the nearest Time Lord, congruent with whatever time I left off. But when the Doctor leaves with me, since he's the only other Time Lord around, it defaults to taking me back to the TARDIS. So we'd all end up back in the TARDIS, safe and sound." I explained.

"That's not a good idea." The Doctor shook his head.

"What's the worst that can happen? They won't get glowing hair from one round-trip." I argued, walking up to the Doctor and grabbing at my locket's chain, ready to stretch it out over his head.

The Doctor caught my wrists sharply. I tried to wriggle out of his grasp, my hands in fists, but he held them closely against his chest, and I was only moving my body. I huffed in frustration, and when I stopped struggling, the Doctor spoke again quietly.

"I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about you. It hurts you too much, every time you travel. I felt it before." The Doctor gulped. I knew he felt part of my headache when I brought him to my universe and back, because the pain felt less on me-- as if he took some of the load. "It'll be worse if you try moving out seven people in succession. You won't be able to take it."

I knew he had a point, but I didn't want him to win. "So? I'll take breaks in between," I struggled again, wiggling like an idiot, trying to move my wrists away, but his hands clasped completely over my fists now. "Will you let go of me already?"

He let me go, but the way he said my name again stopped me. "Nova, please don't leave... While I'm gone," he added quickly.

It felt like an awkwardly intense moment to be sharing in front of everyone, so I shrugged and sat crissed crossed on the floor, next to Amy, who had already sat down half-way through our conversation. "Okay. Fine."

Amy let out a deep breath, as if she had been holding it this entire time. "Okay!" She tried easing the tension a little more. "Well remember, if you get an itch, don't scratch too hard."

"We've all got to go sometime," The Doctor pointed out casually, but Amy, Rory and I exchanged a look, remembering what we saw at the lake in Utah. The Doctor pat Rory's shoulder, making him flinch. "There are worse ways than having your face snogged off by a dodgy mermaid."

Rory smiled nervously, as the Doctor and the Captain left the room.

**888**

"What's going on with you two?" Amy asked me, only moments after the Doctor left.

"Good question." I dismissed her.

"Nova, I'm your friend too, you know." She leaned over, pushing me so that I almost fell sideways.

I laughed. "I know... I just don't know how to explain it. I don't know what I feel, I don't know what the Doctor feels, I don't know who I am, or who River is, and neither does anyone else, and the Doctor went so much time without trusting me and I know he should have and now maybe he does but it still hurts, and I'm thinking what if part of him still doesn't? And then there's Dylan, and him and the Doctor hate each other, and then there's Meredith who's not even there anymore, and you know, you were there when the Doctor got shot, and he didn't get shot the right way and I know it has something to do with me, and then there's--"

"Woah, okay, deep breaths. You don't know what that means. And time can be re-written."

"Not always. Not all of it. Or not in the right way." I grumbled.

"Huh. You said that earlier than I thought you would." Amy pointed out.

"What?"

"Hey, what's going on?" Amy asked the pirates who were moving things by the door, ignoring my confusion.

A pirate paused from lifting the barrels. "We're not staying here to mollycoddle the boy. The Captain's gone soft, it's time for us to leave."

Toby, who was coughing, stood up. "He told you to wait, you dog! He's your captain, a Naval Officer. You're honor-bound to do as he tells you."

The pirate snickered. "Honor-bound? Do you know what kind of ship this is? Do you know what your father does?"

Amy grabbed the boy's shoulders. "Don't listen to him, Toby."

"We sail under the black flag, the Jolly Roger." The pirate spoke menacingly.

"Liar!" Toby lunged for him, but Amy and Rory held him back. "He's no wicked pirate!"

"Oh, you think so? I've seen your father gun down a thousand innocent men."

Toby froze as the idea of his father he had grown up with cracked slowly, until it completely washed away. When it did, he was no less angry, and grabbed a sword, holding it up to the pirate. "You're going to remain at your post!"

"I am not playing games with you boy, you put that down." The pirate spoke slowly, afraid but trying not to show it.

"One more step and I'll use this, you blackguard." Toby held the sword surprisingly still.

The pirate took out a sword of his own. "You don't know how to fight with a cutlass, boy."

I quickly jumped in front of Toby. "Okay! Honestly, no idea what blackguard or a cutlass is, so how about we get a new word instead? Like friend! Yeah? Let's all be friends and put the swords down."

The pirate grunted. "Move, you worthless doxy--"

"I am not a doxy!" I complained, as the pirate kept his sword pointed right at my throat.

"I said, move!"

"Do I look like I'm going to be moving any time soon?"

"I thought you wanted to be friends?"

"That was before you called me worthless!"

"Ow!" The pirate hissed, realizing that Toby had cut his hand. "You little swabber!"

The pirate lunged out with his sword, but I stepped in front of Toby again, and the pirate nicked my collarbone. I felt blood slowly trickling down my chest, and looked at my hand to see a black spot on it. "Great. Wonderful. Guess we're all in this together now!" I exclaimed.

The pirate pulled out his pistol again, aiming it in our general direction.

"Don't shoot! The powder will blow and kill us all!" Rory pointed out.

The other pirate took the keys from him, and left the room, leaving him shaking with his pistol.

"No honor among pirates." Amy stated.

The pirate put his pistol away, and piled barrels against the door again.

**888**

I sat next to Amy again, this time on top of barrels. "Sometimes I think this could all go away if I just left."

Amy laughed. "Oh please, you could never leave for too long. I know you're an alien scientist over there, but it's nothing compared to this. You crave these adventures."

I shrugged. "I guess."

Suddenly, there was a pounding behind all the barrels.

"Open the door!" The Doctor shouted from the other side.

"Toby, open the door!" Avery screamed after him.

We all scrambled up to move the barrels away from the entrance one by one, until we got the door open and the Doctor stormed in, grabbing Toby's medallion and huffing hot air over it until it got foggy again.

"Reflections?" I guessed.

"Yeah, how did you know?" The Doctor panted, still focused on fogging up the metal.

"Well, I wasn't really sure..." I trailed off when the Doctor approached me, brushing my hair behind my neck, and tracing the cut on my collarbone with his fingers, not caring if the blood stained his hands. He grabbed my left hand, tracing his thumb around the big black spot in the middle of it, his breathing louder and louder. I knew he was getting angrier. "Doctor? Come on, you have reflections to get rid of."

The Doctor turned to the last pirate that remained besides Avery, who showed his hand to the Doctor in an effort to state that there was no point-- he was already marked for death, too. The Doctor put his hands on my either side of my face. "Stay here, I'll be right back. Barricade the door again."

"I know...?" I called after him as he ran out the door with Avery.

I turned back around to meet Amy's incredulous expression at me.

**888**

"Just wait?" Rory angrily repeated, the Doctor and Avery looking restless in front of him once they returned.

"Not my most dynamic plan, I realize." The Doctor pointed.

"TARDIS?" Amy asked.

The Doctor struggled to get his words out. "It's... been towed."

"What?"

"Sorry, we might be stuck here for awhile."

"We don't have to be..." I reminded him in a sing-song voice.

"Stop it, I'm not letting you do that either," Amy looked to me, knowing I was talking about using my locket again.

"Yeah, neither am I." Rory agreed.

"Ugh," I groaned, throwing my head back. "So now we have to wait here forever?"

"The sea is still calm, like a mirror," Avery warned. "If you go out on deck she'll rise up and attack you--"

"It's okay," The Doctor cut him off, keeping Avery from freaking anyone else out any more than he needed to. "The calm won't last forever. When the wind picks up we'll all set sail."

Avery nodded in agreement. "Until it does, you have to hide down here."

**888**

"It's kind of annoying how we don't get sleepy as much. I feel like I'm wasting time now. I need to be doing something." I complained to the Doctor.

Amy, Rory, Avery and Toby were asleep now, and the Doctor and I sat on the floor, leaning against some crates.

I started playing with my locket chain, thinking about productive things I could be accomplishing back at Area 51 instead of just sitting here, when the Doctor pried my fingers away from the chain. He probably knew what I was thinking. "You are doing something."

"I guess," I leaned my head back on the crates, looking up at the wooden ceiling.

The Doctor still had one of my hands in his, playing with my fingers. "Nova, there's something I should tell you."

"Hmm?" I closed my eyes, imagining I had the ability to easily drift away again.

"The orb," He started, and I opened my eyes widely again, looking at him. "The TARDIS finished testing it."

"And? What does it do?" I asked.

"Well, it answers more of why someone would bring you here..." The Doctor looked to me as if I would understand. As if I secretly already knew somehow. The expression made me look away.

"Doctor, I swear I know as much about myself as you do."

"I know, I know..." He continued playing with my hand, and I realized he was tracing tracing the black spot on it, over and over. It was both scary to remember, and a soothing feeling. "Remember I told you, It's usually a power meant to help others, and you don't have to take it if you don't want to..."

"Just tell me what it is."

He took a deep breath, and then another.

"It's meant to release the time lock on Gallifrey."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i guess nova didn't recognize how much pain the doctor felt back in case (book 1 chapter 28), and he didn't make a big deal about it....
> 
> if you don't remember how the orb works and you might want to read back on that, info is at the end of "The Lodger (pt 3)" which is chapter 31 of book 1.


	9. The Curse of the Black Spot (pt 3)

Later in the night, the waters picked up— our only chance of escape.

I scrambled to pull at some ropes in the intense thunderstorm with Amy and Rory. Which ropes exactly, I had no idea-- because I did not speak the same language as Captain Avery.

"To the rigging, you dogs! Let go the sails, avast ye! Put the bunt into the sack of the clews!" He screamed through the harsh rain that was soaking us all.

"I swear he's making half this stuff up!" Amy struggled, clutching onto a rope rather than actually doing anything with it.

"I think he's making _all_ of it up!" I tugged on the same rope over and over.

"What we really need is some sort of phrase book!" Rory shouted.

The Doctor attempted to steer, while Avery kept pulling levers and cutting ropes. "Toby, find my coat! My compass is inside it, boy." He shouted to his son, before facing us again. "Heave ho, you bilge rats!"

"Did anyone get that?" I shouted.

" _Rats_ was all I could hear!" Rory exclaimed.

As Toby struggled to lug his father's heavy coat towards him, something fell out of it and rolled along the floor-- An extremely expensive gold crown-- with a reflective surface.

Toby and his father exchanged a look. They knew what he had done.

The siren reached a hand out, and then floated above the ship gracefully.

Toby reached out and stumbled to her. I knew that I could reach her also if I could only make it across. The only emotion I was capable of feeling was longing to be with her.

Toby disappeared with her, and I tried moving forward also. I couldn't perceive space anymore. I had no idea if I was close to her or not, but I must have been, because the Doctor pushed me away, and threw the crown into the ocean.

"No!" Avery cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"You couldn't give up the gold, could you? That's why you turned pirate!" The Doctor screamed at Avery. "Your commission, your wife, your son! Just how much is that treasure worth to you, man?"

Another huge gush of wind swept across the ship and knocked Rory out of the sails, into the violent ocean.

"Rory!" Amy ran to the side of the ship, trying to look overboard. "I can't see him. Doctor, I'm going in!"

Amy began taking her coat off, ready to jump in after her husband, but the Doctor caught up to her, forcing her coat back on and holding her by it. "He's drowning. You go in after him and you'll drown too. There's only one thing that can save him now!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The Siren!" The Doctor reminded her.

"Yes!" I cheered, something about that statement making me extremely excited.

"Oh, no, not you," The Doctor placed a hand on my cheek for just a moment before turning back to Amy, yanking her by her coat lapels. "The Siren, she wants him. We have to release her! You need to hold Nova back!"

Amy grabbed my arms behind my back as the Doctor ran over to the water barrel.

"He's drowning, go save him!" The Doctor told the creature as she was released.

The Siren did as she was told, but came back on the ship, reaching out for me.

"Yes!" I cheered again, pushing Amy behind me, and moving forward.

"Nova!" The Doctor tried. I didn't understand why, or what he was trying to do, but eventually he caught up to me, and kept me back from her.

"Let me go!" I thrashed around, whining. I tried lunging forward, but I could feel his cheek right next to mine, his arms hooking mine behind me. He was doing everything in his power to hold me back, and it was making me mad. "Why won't you let me go? You let Rory go but not me? You love Rory more than me!" I felt like crying and laughing at the same time. I barely understood what I was saying.

"No, I don't, which is why I'm not letting you go!"

"That's so. _Mean!_ " I was surely crying now, although I could barely tell with all the rain falling on my face. I did everything I could to try and get him off of me— I stomped on his feet, I kicked, and I jerked my shoulders and neck back repeatedly. I was getting exhausted, and I knew I probably hurt him-- but he wouldn't move.

All I wanted was for him to move. All I wanted was for the Siren to take me.

"Just let her go like Rory! You said the Siren could save him, she can save her too!" I heard Amy shout from somewhere behind me, but I didn't care to look back. The only thing I cared to look at was the Siren.

"It might know what to do with a human, but it won't know what to do with a Time Lord!" The Doctor explained, out of breath. "Get the lid and cover the barrel!"

Avery did as he said, and the Siren left.

"Doctor, I think we all have to go!" Amy shouted. "If we want to see them again, we should let her take us!"

"Aye!" Avery agreed.

"Please," I breathed, exhausted, kneeling down by the barrel-- the portal to the Siren.

Everyone else knelt around me.

"You're probably right," The Doctor agreed reluctantly. "Maybe."

Amy pulled me towards her to get my attention. "Nova, you tell him!"

With some effort, I swayed myself the opposite way, crashing into the Doctor. "Please...?" I mumbled into his chest, not being able to hold myself up anymore. I had almost forgot that fighting the Doctor before was what made me exhausted. My mind completely consumed by her, there was no space for any other thoughts.

He gulped. "We'll all prick our fingers, all agreed?"

"Aye," Avery confirmed.

"Aye!" Amy joined in.

"Aye!" The Doctor pricked all their fingers with a small nail.

The spots appeared, and the siren came.

**888**

"Where are we?" Amy asked.

"What happened?" I followed, standing up.

"We got taken by the Siren, and we haven't moved. We're in exactly the same place as before," The Doctor explained.

When we all stood, we realized that we were looking out a window-- a window that showed the pirate ship we were just on.

"We're on a ghost ship," Avery tried.

"No, it's real. Space ship trapped in a temporal rift." The Doctor explained again.

"How can two ships be in the same place?" Avery asked.

"Like two different universes within each other," I tried this time.

"All the reflections have suddenly become gateways," the Doctor continued.

He picked up a scrap of metal, and tossed it at the window. Although the window appeared to be glass, it slipped right through and landed on the pirate ship on the other side. "Ever look in the mirror and think you're seeing a whole other world? Well this time, it's not an illusion."

A low beeping resonated around. "That's the signal we were following," I remembered. "Or trying to follow."

"Yes." The Doctor confirmed in a low whisper, as we followed him up some stairs.

"The distress call," Amy noticed.

The Doctor kept walking. "Uh-huh..."

"There was a second ship here all the time..." Amy noticed again.

The Siren's call followed the distress signal. "And the Siren is on board." The Doctor pressed a button on the wall, and a door slid open abruptly, revealing a strange skeleton on the other side that made us all flinch back.

Avery pulled out his gun again, but the Doctor pushed it away. "Dead."

**888**

We entered another room, filled with platforms floating at different levels with people resting on them, wires attached. It wasn't long before we realized it was people from the crew-- including Toby, the TARDIS, and Rory.

"We have to get them out of here!" Avery declared.

"Wait!" The Doctor scanned Toby. "His fever is gone."

He came over to where Amy and I stood, with Rory.

Amy caressed his face gently. "He looks so well..."

"She's keeping him alive. His brain is still active but all its cellular activity is suspended." The Doctor turned over Rory's palm, showing the spot. "It's not a curse, it's a tissue sample." The Doctor showed a disc he snatched from earlier, proving that the sample of his skin was in it. "Why get samples of people you're about to kill?"

"Because you're not about to kill them." I suggested.

The Siren's voice echoed again. "She's coming."

We all scrambled to hide behind a piece of machinery at the side of the room, watching as the Siren approached Rory. He panicked at first, but the more she sang, the more he calmed down.

"Anaesthetic." The Doctor whispered.

"What?" Avery asked, probably never having heard that word in his life.

"The music. The song. So she anaesthetises people and then puts their bodies in stasis." The Doctor explained.

This explanation made no sense to Avery. So as the Siren reach down to Toby, Avery jumped out from the hiding space, and fired a bullet.

The Siren screeched, turning red again-- her eyes burning fire as she tried approaching any one of us. We all scrambled, but when the Doctor sneezed, she came for him, with a stretch of flames between her hands.

"Whoa. Fire! That's new. What does fire do? Burn? Yes. Destroy? What else? Sterilise! I sneezed. I've brought germs in." The Doctor took out a cloth from inside his jacket, and blew his nose on it, throwing it away from him. She shot her flames at the cloth, destroying it and all the germs that were on it.

"Amy, get away from Rory. She's not a killer, she's a doctor!" I rushed to explain.

Amy took a step away from Rory, and the Siren went back to her calm, normal green at my revelation.

"Of course!" The Doctor approached us. "This is an automated sick bay. It's teleporting everyone on board. The crew are dead and so the sick bay has had nothing to do. It's been looking after humanity whilst it's been idle. Look at her. A virtual doctor! Able to sterilise a whole room."

"Able to burn your face off!" Amy felt offended.

"She's just an interface. Seeped through the join between the planes. Broadcast in our world. Protean circuitry means she can change her form And become a human doctor for humans. Oh, sister, you are good!" The Doctor grinned, as if she understood him.

Amy reached for Rory again, but the Siren hissed at her until she stepped away. "She won't let us take them."

"She's keeping them alive but doesn't know how to heal them," The Doctor figured.

"I'm his wife for god's sake! Why can't I touch him?" Amy glared at her.

"Tell her Amy. Show her your ring." He grabbed her left hand, waving the ring in front of the Siren's face. "She may be virtual but she's intelligent. You can't do anything without her consent. Come on! Sophisticated girl like you, that must be somewhere in your core program."

"Amy, say something," I tried.

"Look. He's very ill, okay? I just want to look after him. Why won't you let me near my husband!?" She cried.

Although it was not evident anywhere on the Siren's face that she understood, she held out her left hand with a gold ring of light around it.

"Consent form. Sign it. Put your hand in the light. Rory's sick, you have to take full responsibility." The Doctor said.

Amy put her hand through the ring, and the Siren disappeared. Amy rushed towards Rory again, turning off the power on whatever machine he was floating on-- but he gasped for air, dying once again.

"He can't breathe, turn it back on!"

Amy turned it back on. "What can we do? We can't just leave him here."

"He'll die if you take him out," I reminded her.

Amy stroked Rory's face. "Rory? Wake up."

As if her words were magic, he blinked his eyes open. "Where am I?"

"You're in a hospital. If you leave you might die," the Doctor got straight to the point.

"But if you don't you'll have to stay forever," Amy continued.

"You're saying that if I don't get up now..." Rory trailed.

"You'll never leave." Amy finished, tears in her eyes.

"The Siren will keep you safe." The Doctor reminded him softly.

Rory nodded. "And if I come with you?"

"Drowning, on the point of death."

"I'm a nurse." Rory stated.

"What?" Amy asked.

"I can teach you how to save me."

"Hold on--"

"I was drowning. You just have to resuscitate me."

" _Just?"_

"You've seen them do it loads of times in films. CPR. The kiss of life."

Amy shook her head. "Rory, this isn't a film, okay. What if I do it wrong?"

"You won't." The look Rory gave her told her that he believed that entirely.

"Okay, but what if you don't come back to life? What if--"

"I trust you."

"What about the Doctor? Or Nova? I mean, why do I have to be the one? Why do I have to save you?" Amy was nervous.

"Because I know you'll never give up."

Amy nodded.

**888**

By some miracle, Amy saved Rory's life like I knew she would. He trusted her endlessly, and she never gave up on him. Although there was some panic in the beginning, once I realized Rory was going to be okay, I desperately wanted him and Amy out of the room.

In all honesty, I wasn't exactly paying attention-- something about Amy and the Doctor being worried about each other-- because I was too busy staring at the new object on the console.

I sat in the pilot's chair, absent-mindedly playing with my hair, until the Doctor said, "Go to sleep, Pond," and Amy smiled and left.

I stood and rushed up to the Doctor the moment she closed a door. "Is that it? The liquid version of the orb? I'm supposed to drink that, right?" I pointed at the spot on the console where the orb used to be. It looked like the orb was still there-- only just half of it, like someone had sliced off the top half, and now it was filled with a strange liquid-- the same, gold-glowing christmas light type the orb was filled with.

"Yes..." The Doctor picked it up, and held it in his hands carefully, like it would break if he breathed too hard. Maybe that was why he whispered. "Nova, are you sure? The Time Lords, they're... dangerous. And once you get this power, you can't undo it."

"Someone went through a lot of effort to bring me all the way over here with that. Or multiple people." I reminded myself.

I watched as the Doctor moved his fingers slowly so that his hands moved under the half-sphere, holding it like an offering. But his arms were not outstretched to me yet. He closed his eyes. "Do you know why the Supernova means so much to the Time Lords?"

"Why?" I asked. I may have known part of the answer, but I wanted to hear him explain it to me.

"The Omega and Rassilon used its power to allow for time travel. Its raw energy is what gives-- or gave us-- I don't know, our abilities." He struggled, and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes, and when he looked at me, he slowed down, his voice as careful as his hands under the half-orb. "Basically... it's what made the Time Lords themselves. The Supernova. It's in your name, and it's in this orb. You said that when they reversed your regenerations, they called it the Amending of the Supernova."

"Amending. A new version. When I named myself that, I said it meant to make new, to be new..." I thought all the way back to when I had first met the Doctor-- or rather, when he had first met me. All I wanted was to be someone else. To start over. To be who I was supposed to be-- the new me that Area 51 would never let me discover.

"And it could still mean that!" The Doctor assured me. "But it could also mean..."

"I'm... the Second Supernova?" I said it like a question. I almost couldn't believe it.

"Only if you drink this." The Doctor held the strange spherical cup out to me.

I slowly traced my fingers between his, filling the gaps, holding the light glass carefully.

The Doctor stared at me again, his eyes asking me, _are you sure?_

I lifted the glass to my lips. The liquid smelled like something pure and new-- like the clearest version of water I would ever feel. I tasted it, and how smooth it felt gliding down my throat was almost intoxicating. I felt empowered.

I stared back at him.

_Yes._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's finals week and idk when I'm uploading again hopefully over winter break 
> 
> ps- if you're looking for the chapter where the 'amending of the supernova' thing happened, it was "The Hungry Earth (pt 3) / Cold Blood (pt 1)" chapter 25 of book 1


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